Ted Cruz: Border Bill Must Address Obama's Executive Amnesty Threat

With House Republicans exploring lawmakers’ immigration “wish lists” as they craft a legislative response to the border crisis, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is drawing a line in the sand: unless the bill prevents President Obama from expanding unilateral amnesty for so-called DREAMers, he will oppose it.

“No legislation should be considered unless it specifically prohibits Obama from expanding” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), “which allows those who have come here illegally to stay,” Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told Breitbart News. “That should be a prerequisite for any bill considered to address this crisis.”

Frazier also told Breitbart News that Cruz is working on a bill on the matter that aims to end DACA altogether.

Cruz’s stand would appear to exclude support for a bill offered by his Texas colleagues Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate Minority Whip, and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and House officials crafting the GOP bill in the lower chamber have not discussed any provisions related to reigning in DACA.

Although the crisis has prompted a new flurry of legislative activity, Obama’s unilateral actions may prove far more significant. According to National Journal, Obama recently gave “quiet credence” to a plan from a left-wing activist group to grant unilateral amnesty to as many as 6 million illegal aliens currently residing in the U.S.

Addressing the threat, Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) recently hand-delivered a letter to every member of Congress calling for no new money to be appropriated unless the president guarantees there will be no more executive amnesty.

“Certainly, DACA and the President’s other numerous unlawful policies must be terminated,” Sessions wrote in the letter. “But as a first step, Congress must not acquiesce to spending more taxpayer dollars until the President unequivocally rescinds his threat of more illegal executive action.”